An Exploratory Analysis on the Contextual Factors that Influence Disruptive Innovation: The Case of Uber

In the last years, management scholars have looked into the phenomenon of disruptive innovation, mostly focusing on the characteristics that identify a disruptive innovation and on the managerial solutions that incumbent firms should adopt to respond to the threat of a disruptive innovation. However, studying the characteristics of the context in which a disruptive innovation unfolds remains an under-researched topic. To fill this gap, this exploratory study examines how the disruptive innovation phenomenon is influenced by a set of variables that shape the context in which it takes place. This is done through a historical analysis of Uber, a widely discussed example of disruptive innovation. The exploratory analysis suggests that the extant regulatory framework plays a key role in influencing the impact that Uber has had on the taxi industry. By doing so, the paper points to the importance — for future researchers — to study disruptive innovation by carefully placing it in the regulatory context in which it takes place, given the importance that this aspect plays in influencing the anatomy of the disruption phenomenon.